Only ‘left-wing’ clubs supported at Laurier, says edit made from government computer

Someone using a government computer made a rather scathing addition to the Wikipedia page on Wilfred Laurier University Wednesday morning, noting that the student union at the school only supports clubs and associations that are “left-wing” or “SJW” (social justice warriors).

An automated Twitter account that tracks edits made to Wikipedia from government IP addresses uncovered the change, tweeting it out at 8:34 a.m. ET.  The edit was still visible on the page as of 10:30 a.m. ET.

The original sentence explained that the student union’s Clubs and Associations department “supports all clubs by offering resources and financial support as well as acting as a liaison to the students’ union and university administration.”

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The edit changed that sentence to read that the department “supports all clubs (with exception to anything not left-wing SJW related) by offering resources and financial support as well as acting as a liaison to the students’ union and university administration.”

READ MORE: Andrew Scheer: Laurier university controversy highlights larger issue of ‘stifling’ free speech

The edit comes in the wake of a heated controversy at Laurier this week involving a teaching assistant. Lindsay Shepherd, a master’s student, was admonished for showing students a video featuring outspoken University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson, who infamously refuses to use gender pronouns other than “he” or “she.”

Extended: Excerpts from secretly recorded meeting between Wilfrid Laurier University grad student and faculty

9:56 Extended: Excerpts from secretly recorded meeting between Wilfrid Laurier University grad student and faculty

Shepherd argued that she was simply trying to show how the debate over gendered pronouns has unfolded, and her supporters said that her treatment at the hands of administrators amounted to censorship.

University officials have since offered Shepherd an apology for the way they handled a student’s complaint surrounding her tutorial.

WATCH: Wilfrid Laurier graduate student happy university apologized but wanted more long-term change

5:17 Wilfrid Laurier graduate student happy university apologized but wanted more long-term change

The edit to the Wikipedia page on Wednesday morning was made from a computer registered to Shared Services Canada, the government’s central IT department. It was made anonymously.

The Twitter account, @gccaedits, is fully automated and has turned up dozens of weird, controversial and just plain hilarious edits to Wikipedia made by people logged into government computers since it launched in July 2014.

In February 2016, for instance, someone used a computer at the Department of National Defence to edit Cadbury Caramilk’s Wikipedia page to dispute whether the bar meets “the legal definition of a chocolate.”